Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1463254
Dr. CrossFit? In what may be an extreme example of incorporating physical fitness into primary care medicine, CrossFit is stepping into the primary care space with their CrossFit Precision Care. Branded as a primary care service built by the CrossFit community, Precision Care hopes to provide a personalized, data-driven approach to the world of telehealth. The new service claims to cover all aspects of health, including sleep, physical activity, nutrition and more. Doctors will be CrossFit-trained and provide a patient care plan based on genes, biomarkers and health metrics. Precision Care is telehealth-only but also offers in-person referrals if clients need specialist or follow-up care. Doctors for referral are not necessarily associated with CrossFit. Currently, the service is not covered by insurance and only available in certain states. seconds, respectively. The losses took place across seven years in men ages 65 and older at the beginning of the study. Ga it speed is considered a reliable mea sure of overa l l hea lth. Poor g rip streng t h wa s recent ly more heav i ly associated with higher mortality rates — both all-cause and cardiovascular — than systolic blood pressure and as a predicator of falling versus not-falling in older men. Therefore, researchers concluded that the higher rate of loss of speed and grip streng th in the low physica l activit y group is clinica lly significant. L i k e w i s e , i n " T h e A s s o c i a t i o n Between Objectively Measured Physical Activity a nd Subsequent Hea lth Ca re Utilization in Older Men," Dr. Stefanick and researchers used the MrOS database to connect daily step count with hospital stays. They found a correlation between higher daily step count and lower odds of hospita lization and shorter duration of stay. " D a i l y s t e p c o u n t i s a n e a s i l y determined measure of physical activity t hat may be usef ul in a ssessment of future health care burden in older men," according to Dr. Stefanick and co-authors. "Given that lower physica l activity is associated with a broad spectrum of adverse hea lth outcomes, it is likely that lower levels of objectively measured physica l activity are associated with increased risk of hospita lization and subsequent use of postacute care." In fact , their resea rch shows that each increase in standard deviation is independently associated with a 34% decrease in hospitalization odds. In this study, one standard deviation equals 3,092 steps. INCORPORATING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE Low physica l activ it y is a clinica l ly s i g n i f i c a n t p r e d i c a t o r o f l i m i t e d f u nc t ion a l i ndep endenc e , c h r on ic disease and hospita lization. Primary care provider influence could be a strong influence in a patient's decision to begin a n exercise prog ra m or increa se his activity level. Therefore, primary care providers might consider more formal incorporation of physical activity into their practice space. While some providers may offer their older male patients the advice to exercise more, an "exercise prescription" might be more helpful. In practice, this could take the form of reviewing physical activity recommendations and including specific options for exercise based on the individual patient. Physical activity levels could be recorded in patients' files in an effort to monitor patient progress over time, and if patients do not show indications of functional improvement, providers could consider referrals to physical therapy or resources that encourage physical activity, such as community-based programs or fitness centers. n M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S M i D - P E N N ■ 2 0 2 2 1 1